“Stole it from my father.”
“Stolen or given?”
“Stolen,” she says. “I hate him for what he’s doing to my mother, not paying attention to her when she started feeling sick.”
The phone rings again, and again, and is picked up. “Hello?” a male voice says. “Who’s this?”
“Charlie!” Lin says, and Liam is impressed at how her voice rises in both pitch and excitement. “This is Sally Yoo.”
“Um, hey, Sally, you know … I really don’t feel comfortable talking to you on my regular cell. Is something wrong?”
She says, “Charlie, please, I have something important to tell you, something that must be passed on to someone in authority at Walter Reed. Can you do that?”
“Depends, I guess, Sally,” he says. “What is it, and who do you want to get it?”
“It must be given to the most senior person in strict confidence, do you understand? It can’t be traced back to me.”
Liam thinks,Right, traced back to one Sally Yoo, who probably only exists in a computer file somewhere in Beijing.
“Gee, Sally, you’re starting to scare me. It’s nothing illegal, is it?”
“Oh, Charlie, it’s so very important to you and your country,” she says. “This information has to be given to whoever’s in charge of the medical team taking care of Vice President Hernandez.”
Charlie doesn’t answer.
“C’mon, Charlie, I’ll make it worth your while. Twice the monthly payment next week?”
A sigh. “Okay. That’d be great. I thought for sure that the Yankees would win yesterday and—”
Liam glares at Lin as she says, “You know I don’t understand baseball. Are you ready to take notes?”
“Yeah.”
“Great. I’ll take it slow. Here we go …”
Liam listens in amazement as Lin describes in slow and steady detail how Vice President Laura Hernandez was poisoned, what she was poisoned with, and what steps need to be taken to free her from her coma.
When Lin appears to be finished, Liam mouths,Make sure he’s got it. And have him read it back to you.
“Charlie, did you get that last bit? Can you read this back to me?”
The cell phone’s little speaker hisses.
Benjamin slowly gets off the couch and mouths,Need some water. Be right back.
He limps off to the small kitchen.
Lin says, “Charlie, you still there?”
Nothing.
Lin examines the screen and says, “I’ve been disconnected.”
Liam’s throat tightens. “Call him back. Now.”
Her fingers work and she looks up at him, face worried. “I can’t get a signal.”
Liam pulls his own phone out.